Frozen Sapphire
by SapphireArtemisIceheartt
Summary: An abandoned child gets adopted...And is raised in Icecrown Citadel.
1. Chapter 1

_Boom. Boom._  
The man rapped his knuckles on the wooden door, and backed away. Both him and the woman next to him were covered in black cloaks. The women looked up at the Cathedral of Light nearby. She sneered in disdain.  
"No wonder it was hard to find the child. It is right in the shadow of that infernal place."  
The moon was full that night. It sat in the middle of the sky, directly overhead the orphanage. While they waited, a cat ran by. An old, wrinkled crone opened the door. Most likely the orphanage matron. She looked at the man and the woman.  
"Well? What do you want? It's the middle of the night!" She snapped.  
The man ground his teeth, but he said nothing. The woman choked out a sob, and pulled her hood down. Tears ran down her face, fresh and completely fake.  
"I'm so sorry for the intrusion, but my baby! It was taken from me. Please help me. Have you gotten any new babies recently? She's been gone for months!"  
The matron blinked, and scowled.  
"Well, yes. A girl, with beautiful blue eyes and golden hair. She hasn't got a name-"  
_A girl?_ The man thought. This was unexpected.  
"Yes! Yes, may I have her back? Please?"  
The woman handed the matron two bags heavy with gold. The crone gasped, and opened the bags. Glittering yellow gold glared at her. She quickly ushered the two in, grinning wickedly.  
"This way."  
They wove their way through the beds of the orphans. As the man and woman passed them, the children all whimpered, haunted by nightmares. The matron noticed nothing, walking confidently as she contemplated how to spend all of the gold.  
She found the cradle where the unnamed child slept. As soon as the woman saw the baby, she closed her eyes and whispered a spell. The man scowled.  
"That's her?"  
The crone flinched at his echoing voice. It sounded dark, and unholy. She shuddered in fear. The woman opened her eyes, and answered instead.  
"Yes, that's her."  
She leaned down, and gingerly picked up the child. Without another word to the matron, the couple left.

They walked down the street, far away from the Cathedral of Light. The woman smiled at the child, who was now awake. The child gurgled. Her eyes were the brightest blue the woman had ever seen.  
"I do not believe that is His child. That little pound of flesh!" The man snarled.  
"It is. And when he finally awakens, I shall present her to him. Then he will reward me."  
The man clenched his fists.  
"Really? May I hold it, her, for a moment?"  
The woman frowned, but then she reluctantly traded off the child. He cradled the baby, and took her over to a low wall. He gingerly set her down, and turned to the woman.  
She frowned, "What are you doing? Be careful."  
With a quick movement, he tore his cloak off. His dark armor was decorating with skulls and spikes. The man stalked over to the woman, sword whipping out. Eyes glowed blue, and runes on the sword matched the eyes.  
She gasped, and backed away from the man.  
"No! Don't-"  
His blade slashed against her stomach. Blood spurted and the intestines tumbled out. The woman fell to her knees. Another slash beheaded her, and the entire body dropped down. Blood ran through the cobblestones and into the canal. With a quick kick, he pushed the body into the water. It landed with a splashed, and floated on the surface.  
The man curled his lip, and heard the crying of the forgotten baby. He stalked over to it.  
"Oh, shut up you little morsel! I do not know why I bother. You'll be eaten in a week, and even if you are lucky, He will kill you on sight."  
Despite that, he picked up the wrapped bundle, and a purple mist appeared in front of him. Clutching the child, he went through it.


	2. Chapter 2

Ethan looked up at the cathedral, its sharp spires thrusting up into the dark clouds above. Gargoyles flew around, landing on the edges of walls, then stiffened into motionless statues. There was a flash of light in the clouds, and about a minute later, a rumble. A few snowflakes blew past him. He set off to do what he had been ordered to do.  
The deathknight strode up the steps to the Cathedral of Darkness, his cloak swishing around his legs, and entered it. The main room was enormous, the roof high up above Ethan's head. Hundreds of candles burned around him as he walked down the main walkway. Rows of tables were on either side of him, with the living members of the Scourge kneeling at them. Ethan went up straight to High Invoker Basaleph, who stood at an altar at the other end of the large hall. The man was standing at the altar, and noticed the deathknight as he walked up.  
Ethan bowed, and looked at the living man expectantly.  
"She is over there, to the far right."  
The deathknight lowered his head in gratitude, and looked over to where the High Invoker had gestured. Across the room of praying mortals, there was a table where only one person sat. The boy walked past the cultists, respectfully silent.  
He reached the lone figure, and knelt down next to her. Her head was bowed, long blonde hair covering her face. A bit intrusive, he moved closer to her.  
"Hello, Sapphire," The deathknight whispered. Sapphire whipped her head up, and scowled at the boy.  
"Hi, Ethan...What do you want?"  
"Why have you not answered your father's summons? Did you not feel it?" Ethan demanded.  
Sapphire frowned, and lifted her free hand to her neck to the metal collar. It was seamless, as if it had always been there. The dark metal was cold against her skin. Six rings looped in the holes of the collar, glowing faintly. It had been around her neck for years, but it was smooth, as if newly made. She tugged at it strengthlessly, and looked at Ethan with hate.  
"I felt it. But I didn't want to go. I am not some dog to come the instant he wants me to!"  
"When he calls you, you go!" Ethan snarled quietly. He really didn't feel like starting a scene in such a place. The boy pulled her to her feet, then gave her a softer look. He let go of her wrist, and instead wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Sapphire grudgingly let herself be taken from the Cathedral of Darkness, and to Icecrown Citadel.  
As they went across the Court of Bones, the wind howled even more than it usually did. Sapphire and Ethan ran up the steps to the Citadel as the storm began bearing down on the Citadel. The doors were open, but as soon as the two came inside, the doors slammed shut.

Ethan led her through the Halls of Reflection, and stopped at the Shadow Throne. The room was empty besides the two of them.  
"I'll be in the Frostwing Halls if you need me."  
Sapphire nodded. She went over, and pulled one of the curtains aside to the right, revealing a passageway. Ethan looked to the passageway, where another passage way led through the mountain to a balcony. In that direction, an unfinished necropolis floated in a frozen cavern.  
The girl went down that way, leaving the young deathknight alone. He sighed, and left the way they had came.

Sapphire made her way carefully down the icy path. She ignored the necropolis, having seen it multiple times, and never seeing substanstial progress on it.  
Her boots weren't made for walking on ice, so she slipped a couple times. In here, it was just as cold as in the Citadel, but the frozen walls seemed to make the girl feel even colder. The path rose up, and Sapphire was relieved to come up at the ending until she realized that there was a blizzard outside. A gust of wind reminded her of that, and another made her slip on the ice.  
She gasped, and grasped at the wall, trying to get a hold while the wind buffeted her. She knelt down, and covered her face until the wind died down to a level where she could stand. Once it did, she made her way onto the balcony. She blinked as the wind outside blew into her eyes. She shivered from the cold.  
The balcony sported the same forbidding spiked look as the rest of buildings of the Scourge. It was cold outside, and snow billowed in the air. At the edge of the platform, a large figure stood.  
"Dad!" Sapphire cried. He turned to look at her. Another burst of blistering wind forced Sapphire back. She retreated, and clung to the wall. Her father strode slowly over to her.  
Sapphire looked up at her father. She'd never seen what Arthas had looked like before he was the Lich King, but she'd been told that he'd been handsome living. He was wearing his Helm of Domination, but the runeblade Frostmourne had been back at Sword's Rest when she had passed by with Ethan.  
Her father took her by the arm.  
"I had wished to talk to you, but it seems that you're in no condition to talk."  
The girl shook her head.  
"Let us go to somewhere more to your comfort."  
Sapphire and her father made their way back through the path, the Lich King impassively watching his daughter slip on the ice numerous times. They got back to the Shadow throne, Sapphire limping. She'd fallen hard, and hurt her ankle. She fell upon the throne, and looked at her ankle, wincing.  
"The bone isn't broken. The muscle just twisted," Her father said, without even looking her. Sapphire was tempted to take her boot off to examine it. It hurt terribly.  
The girl looked up when he placed one hand on her shoulder. Sapphire shuddered, but Arthas didn't notice. He moved his hand, and touched the metal collar around her neck.  
She gasped as pain shot through her. She felt as if she were burned everywhere. Underneath the pain, there was something even worse. There was a feeling of rage, and hatred. Hatred of the living, and the urge to kill anything she could get her hands on. Arthas removed his hand from the collar.  
She dropped back against the throne, struggling for breathe. She lay there, her body unresponsive. She vaguely felt her father stroke her hair before he left. Ethan found her like that, half conscious and curled up on the Shadow throne.


	3. Chapter 3

Sapphire woke, groaning. She was warm, and covered in something soft. Opening her eyes, she discovered she was in her own bed. It was dark, the only light coming from her ajar door. The girl tried to move, but everything hurt. She winced, remembering the pain. Touching the collar, Sapphire blinked back tears.  
Her father, Arthas. He'd hurt her! He'd never hurt her without reason. Was it just because she had refused to come to him immediately?  
Her father had become distant over the years. In the beginning, Arthas had actually seem interested in Sapphire. Never let her out of his sight. That was why she wore the collar. To make sure she was safe at all times. Or so Sapphire used to think. Now, Arthas only ever used the collar to hurt her. Horribly.  
Sapphire couldn't remember when her father had grown so cold to her. About the time she turned twelve. Maybe he was annoyed by her rebellious streak, and thought paralyzing her with pain would make it go away.  
She was sixteen now. And only two weeks ago had she tried to leave out from Angrathar, the Wrath gate. Clearly, negative reinforcement was not effective in Sapphire's case.  
It seems now, that he was going to hurt her whenever he chose. The girl shivered at the thought.  
Sapphire looked around the dimly lit room, eyes adjusting. She yawned.  
Ethan was reclined in a chair nearby, eyes closed. A small plaguehound was curled up in his lap, panting. In fact, there were six more of the undead creatures on the floor. To her disgust, Sapphire found one napping on the edge of her bed.  
"Ethan!"  
The deathknight opened his eyes. "Yes?"  
The girl pointed at the animal on her bed, scowling.  
"Oh...Ni'kua! Down!"  
The plaguehound lifted its head, staring at the boy. Ethan growled ferally at it.  
It obeyed him, jumping to the floor and instantly biting one of the other animals. With a snarl, the other pounced at it, and soon there was a cacophony of snarls, growls and yelps. Sapphire groaned, and pulled a pillow over her head before collapsing on the bed.  
"How do you feel?" Ethan asked, ignoring his pets' fight. He pushed the animal in his lap off. The puppy plaguehound yipped, and stayed close to him, away from it's bigger brothers.  
"Hurting..."  
"What did you do to upset the Master?" He snapped at her.  
"Nothing...I don't know!" Sapphire said. Then, she started sobbing. The deathknight curled his lip up in disgust. He pulled her into a hug. The puppy climbed up onto the bed, and licked Sapphire. She grabbed it, and hugged it. The undead dog that had been forced off the bed growled.  
"Next time, when the Master calls you, go to him. Hmm?"  
The girl nodded, and clung to the deathknight.  
"Are you able to function?" The boy questioned. His glowing blue eyes comforted her.  
"Maybe."  
The boy yawned. Despite Ethan's undying loyalty to the Scourge, he did always break one law. Whenever Sapphire slept, he usually did as well. If deathknights could look tired, he most certainly would.  
The girl got up, and shakily walked out of her room. Ethan watched her leave, and decided she wasn't in the mood to be comforted.

Sapphire eyed the glass vial. The red liquid sloshed around in the glass. Nicci tilted her head.  
"Are you okay? You're shaking."  
The girl ignored the other woman. Nicci was a necromancer, and her teacher. The older woman was always kind to her, but Sapphire wasn't in the mood.  
"This venom is still viable."  
The girl poured the liquid into the bowl. It sizzled. Nicci scowled. She picked up the bowl in front of Sapphire, and took it away, ignoring the girl's protest. Grabbing the girl by the collar, Nicci pulled her away from the rest of the cultists in the room.  
"The poison can wait. What's wrong?"  
"Nothing...I'm fine!" Sapphire snarled. The woman glared at her.  
"I'm here to help you. Remember that, Your Majesty."  
The woman left, and irritated, Sapphire stalked out of the room. She roamed the halls of Icecrown, cursing as she went. Undead and cultists alike went out of their way to avoid her.  
Sapphire stopped when she heard her father's voice. She turned around, and when in that direction. She went into a room, and flinched as the body of a cultist fell to the ground. Arthas glared at the girl.  
"What do you want, daughter?"  
He never called her Sapphire anymore. The girl had to get used to it. She hung her head submissively.  
"What did he do to deserve that?" Sapphire asked, ignoring her father's question. She tilted her head at the body on the floor. Blood ran toward her boots, and she stepped around it.  
"In case you didn't know, the living is waging a futile war against me. And idiots like him are costing me greatly," Her father snarled. Sapphire blinked as she stared blankly at Arthas. He curled his lip in disgust.  
"Stupid girl. Why are you bothering me with your presence?"  
"I'm not stupid! Whatever that cultist did, I could do a thousand times better!" Sapphire growled back.  
"Oh, really?" Arthas asked. A slight touch of amusement was evident in his voice.  
Now was her chance.  
"Yes! What did he do for you, Father?" She asked eagerly.  
"He raised undead in the field, amidst combat. Can you do that, daughter?"  
The girl nodded vigorously, but cowered when Arthas laughed. It was a dark laughter, the sound sending shivers down Sapphire's back. She'd heard that laughter before, many times. When her father watched prisoners being tortured.  
"All right, child. Tomorrow. I have kept you alive for such a moment like now. When you prove your worth, I can finally make use of you."  
Sapphire nodded, and took that as a dismissal. She turned to leave, but Arthas gave her a warning as she walked out.  
"Fail...And I will make you regret being born."


	4. Chapter 4

Ethan stared at Sapphire as she told him the news. The girl was smiling as she spoke of her conversation with her father. Ni'kua and the immature plaguehound sat, watching the two them. The puppy yawned, and received a snap from its much larger cousin. Ethan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Sapphire..How can you be so stupid?"

The girl flinched. "I'm not stupid."

"Yes, you are. Do you really think the Master is letting you do this with good intentions? He's expecting you to die."

She folded her arms, scowling. "Since when can you criticize your master? Isn't that treason, worthy of a long, painful death?"

Ethan looked down, fists clenched. Sapphire smirked.

"What right do you have to assume anything from your Master. You're a lowly deathknight whose job is to take care of filthy, rotting animals."

Ni'kua growled, and stood up, baring his fangs. Ethan put a restraining hand around the plaguehound's collar. The deathknight frowned at Sapphire. She was acting very odd. Plaguehoundsl oved her, always begging food from her. The girl would always find scraps to give them. For some reason, the girl adored the rotting creatures, giving them names and collars. Sapphire would drop whatever she was doing to rub a dog's belly if it wanted it. The only thing she didn't like about them was when they slept into her room.

Never had she insulted plaguehounds, or Ethan.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

The girl burst out a sharp retort. "I don't need to take this! Goodbye, Ethan!"

The deathknight's face turned to that of surprise, and he reached out to her. She backed away a step, and turned away. Sapphire broke into a run.

The boy heard her sobbing fade as she left. He sighed.

"Rot!" The puppy wagged its tail hopefully. Ethan pointed towards the retreating figure.

"Sapphire's irritable. Go cheer her up."

Rot yipped, and hopped after Sapphire.

* * *

Sapphire sat outside, on the steps leading up to the Citadel. She sniffled, and wiped her sleeve against her nose. The girl pulled her legs up, and wrapped both arms around them. She shivered as the wind blew around her. The spell on her cultist robes prevented her from freezing, but did not warm her up. Rot came running up, and barked. The girl ignored it. Rot whined, and sniffed her, before lifting a paw at her.

He threw his head back, as if to howl. All that came out was a bark, and the plaguehound started coughing and hacking.

Sapphire smiled. "Aw, poor baby. Were you trying to howl?"

She picked Rot up, and cuddled with the creature. The puppy licked her face, and yipped. She held Rot for several minutes, listening as he panted.

"If Ethan sent you, then I am going to find holy water, and splash it into his eyes. Okay?"

Rot perked up his ear, the other long gone. His bony tail wagged. Sapphire stood up, cradling the plaguehound.

After a quick visit to the kitchens of Icecrown Citadel, Sapphire took Rot her room, and put him on her bed. After lighting a candle, the girl bent down in front of a wooden chest. The plaguehound watched her as she opened it. Rifling through papers, and books, she found what she was looking for. The book on necromancy her father had given her for her tenth birthday.

Sapphire had already read it entirely through about five times, and the spells she's tried had worked perfectly fine...on rats. The girl flipped through a couple of pages, refreshing her memory.

Rot yipped, and twirled around on the bed covers. After she relearned what she thought she needed, Sapphire closed the book, and threw it back in the chaotic mess of her chest.

Rot barked when she blew out the candle and laid down in her bed.

The plaguehound sniffed her, and scrambled underneath the covers alongside her. Sapphire smiled, and scratched the puppy on the stomach.

"Good boy. You'll never be mean to me, will you? Unlike Ethan. Stupid deathknight..."

She put her head on a pillow, and bit her lip. A tear fell down her face, and she closed her eyes.

* * *

Her mood brightened substantially as she strode proudly to the Shadow Throne. She wore her best necromancer's robes. Rot trotted alongside her, head held up high. Sapphire was going over in her head the spells she had memorized, wondering about which ones that would she use. Would she be helping fight the Horde, or the Alliance? She hoped it was the Alliance. There were more paladins in the Alliance, and her father had told Sapphire that paladins murdered her mother. She'd never met her mother...

Sapphire felt really good. She would made her father proud. Ethan would never doubt her again. And, she'll be aiding the Scourge rid the world of the wretched living, especially paladins. When the girl saw her father sitting on the Throne, she smiled. She ran up to him, but stopped immediately when she saw Ethan standing next to him, looking smug.

"What are you doing here?" Sapphire snapped.

The boy said nothing to her, but looked to the Lich King.

"Master. Shall I escort her back to her room?"

Sapphire interrupted whatever her father would have said in response.

"No! You may not. I'm going to leave the Citadel, and resurrect bodies of the fallen to aid in the glory of the Scourge."

The Lich King stood up, and Sapphire instantly lowered her head submissively. Her shoulders hunched.

His voice cut her like a knife. "No you won't be, daughter. I've reconsidered my order, and withdraw it."

The girl gulped, "Yes, Master..." Ethan came over to her, smiling softly.

"Sap-"

The girl slapped him, anger glowing in her eyes. It didn't hurt the deathknight but he was shocked.

"What was that for?"

"Bastard! What do you think that was for?" Ethan flinched.

Never had he heard the girl throw a sincere insult before. Sapphire was always so...tame. Ethan had know the girl for years, and nothing drew out Sapphire's anger. The deathknight was thoroughly concerned, but he grabbed the girl's wrist before she could slap him again. He bared his teeth at her.

"Why are you acting like this? You aren't like this." He said reasonably, keeping his own temper in check. The deathknight was all too aware of his master witnessing this.

"Like what?" Sapphire snarled.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Like a bitch."

Sapphire stared at him. Then, with a snarl, she ripped her arm away from him, and yanked her knife out. Before she could stab him, something sharp hit her across the face, and she fell to the floor. Her vision grew blurry. Warm liquid ran down her neck. She could hear Ethan's voice.

"I'm sorry, Master...I don't know what has-" Her father cut him off.

"I know fully well why she is behaving like this. Lock her up in her room. Freeze the door shut, and I shall deal with her later."

"Yes...Master. Permission to ask what her problem is?"

The Lich King laughed. "There is no problem, servant. She's doing exactly what I want her to do."

Her father left, footsteps like earthquakes to the girl. Doing exactly what her father wanted her to do? What did that mean? The full realization of what she'd been about to do shocked her. Sapphire had pulled a knife out to Ethan. She had almost attacked her best friend.

Sapphire winced as the pain in her cheek grew. She felt Ethan pick her up gently, and carry her to her room. Rot barked once, but afterwards there was silence except for the deathknight's footsteps. She groaned, but let Ethan take her to her room, and lay her down on her bed. Sapphire fell unconscious before her head hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

Sapphire was left in her room for days. Not once did she have any visitors, neither her father or Ethan. The first day, she'd spent all of it trying to pry open her door. It was the only wooden one in Icecrown Citadel, and possibly Icecrown. And, all along the edges of it, sharp spikes of ice prevented the door from opening.

The girl had beat on it, tried spells of decay on it, and even lit a match and held it to the door. It never budged, never rotted away, and as soon as the flame of the match touched the wood, a burning cold pain from her collar made Sapphire toss the match away.

After that horrible disappointment, the girl decided to wait it out. She slept, read, and did anything to distract herself. But always, she wondered why she was locked up. Her father had said she had done what he wanted her to do. So why was he punishing her?

Sapphire had already retrieved her broken mirror and looked at her face. A long, scabby gash ran underneath her right eye. The girl sighed. It was not the first time she had gotten such a wound. Same type, under the same eye, years ago.

The girl had been curious about the pointy floating thing in one of the rooms in Icecrown, and so she had snuck up to it to get a better look. It was shiny, and strange things swirled around it. She had reached her hand up to touch it.

And was instantly yanked back by her father. Never before that, or indeed after that, had Sapphire seen her father so furious. He'd acted like he wanted to kill her. When he backhanded across the face that day, the metal on his gauntlet had caught, and ripped open the girl's fragile skin, tearing it to shreds.

The cultists healing her later said it could have been her eye if he had hit her half an inch higher. If luck hadn't been with Sapphire that day, she would have been half blind. The fortunate part for the girl was that Arthas never tried to physically harm her again. There was not even a scar from that incident, her father ordering his necromancer's to knit the skin back perfectly.

Now, he had hit her exactly the same way. But the difference was, now, he did not care if she was scarred for life. The wound would never completely heal unless a necromancer used magic to fix it. Necromancers reattached body parts to undead, and they could use the same spell to fix living skin.

Five days passed, and when Arthas finally visited her, she immediately started crying, and hugged her father. Over the years, Sapphire was an expert on how to give her father a hug. His armor was hard, and various places had razor sharp edges. After a horrible cut when she was six, the girl was always careful to hug him.

He did nothing, which was a good sign. Whenever he was angry, he would hurt her for showing such emotions.

"Dad! I'm so sorry! I won't ever do it again!"

He pried her off of him easily. "What did you do?"

Sapphire sniffled, and looked up at him in confusion.

"Whatever I did wrong to make you lock me up in my room?"

He laughed, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You did nothing wrong."

"But...What about Ethan? I took a knife to him."

There was an moment of silence. Sapphire sensed her father was scowling.

"Don't worry about that treacherous boy. He has been taken care of. Maybe if he returns from the front lines, I'll let you see him," Arthas growled.

Sapphire's heart skipped a beat. Front lines? No. Not Ethan. Her caring, loving deathknight.

"Love is weak. One who follows the heart finds it will bleed. That fool will be learning that lesson as we speak. Or, he will die like a dog."

The girl winced, not evening asking how her father knew what she was thinking.

"Yes, Master."

She looked down to the floor, waiting for her father to say anything else. The girl felt him studying her intently.

"I see it has not taken well."

Sapphire glanced up at her father.

"What hasn't taken well, Master?"

"You're dying, daughter. You are not taking well to it."

Sapphire blinked uncomprehendingly at her father. Obviously, she was dying. She was closer to death than she was five seconds ago.

"Dying, Master?"

"Yes...An experiment. I expected better results. The previous experiments did not have collars, and they died instantly. And most in most excruciating pain. I suppose that is a benefit for you, but it seems it is not working as well as it should. Perhaps more force should be used."

The girl resisted an urge to touch her collar.

Her moods had started after her father had touched her collar and paralyzed her with pain. And that horrible sense of rage, and hatred of the living.

Sapphire didn't want to die. She didn't think about it until now, because she thought it was going to be a long time before Arthas killed her.

"Fath...Father? May I leave to satisfy mortal needs?"

Her formal, revering tone got her a dismissive wave. Sapphire sprinted to the kitchens. They were deep in the Citadel, far away from everything else. The needs of the living were unimportant, and unworthy of notice to undead.

Sapphire was happy to find the kitchens empty when she arrived. With a fierceness, the girl raided the place, taking one of everything she could find. And she gorged herself on it.

Stale bread, cheese, and dried meats of known and unknown origin. On rare occasions did Sapphire stumble across preserved fruits or vegetables, but this was not one of those days. Wine was also rare, but the girl had tried it once, and ended up being sick for two days after drinking the entire bottle. Nobody had explained alcohol to her before then. Now, she stayed away from anything even remotely like it.

Eating made her feel better. She could ignore the fear rising up inside of her. Picking off pieces of mold that was growing on the cheese distracted her. Only until there was crumbs left did she break into sobs.

Sapphire did not care how her father was killing her. Something to do with the collar. That meant she had to get it off. The only way to do that was get Arthas to do it. Ethan had once tried, only for curiosity's sake. His hands hurt for hours that day when all of a sudden the collar burned right through his gloves. Her father had learned of it, and gloated over the fact that only he could take off the collar, since he was the one who made it. That gave Sapphire a plan.

Maybe...

No. That could never work.

Something deep inside of her spoke. Telling Sapphire must do it. Somehow, the girl would have trick her father into taking her collar off. Trick him, or lose much more than her life.

Sapphire was taught that the living were inferior. Flawed. For some reason, now that she was looking death in the face, the girl was terrified. She wanted to live.

She stood up, and fled to her room.

Her father was gone, so she sighed in relief. She curled up on her bed, shaking.

Rot came around as she was reading a book. The plaguehound barked, and hopped around her. Sapphire looked at him sadly, and petted the little undead creature. His tail wagged.

"Hello, Rot...Ethan's gone. He's probably dead by now..."

Tears fell down her face. The plaguehound's tail fell, and he whined, lowering his head. The girl grabbed the puppy, and pulled it into her arms. She fell asleep crying into Rot's mangy fur.


	6. Chapter 6

Sapphire was ordered by an unfamiliar cultist to go to her father that morning.

Meekly, She did, and for the second time, Arthas grabbed her by the collar. The Shadow Throne was not there to catch her, and she fell to the floor, writhing in pain. It was different than before. The girl had no idea what he was doing to her, but it was worse than before. It felt like her blood was on fire, and her lungs full of liquid, as if she were drowning.

She lost conscious for an hour, but when she came around, the pain was still there. With a chillingly affectionate tone, her father told her that she could go.

* * *

Sapphire twitched her fingers. The knife slipped, and sliced her hand.

"Ow!" The girl dropped the knife, and clamped her now bleeding hand with the unmarred one. Blood dripped onto the dead rat.

"Stupid girl. What did you do that for?" A night elf asked, sneering.

The girl shakily wrapped a bandage around it, and tried to continue dissecting the rodent on the table. The cuts were ragged, and she cut herself again, getting Nicci's attention. The older woman came over to her, and took the knife away from Sapphire. Before the girl could protest, Nicci took the girl aside.

"What's wrong with you, child?"

The girl shook her head, and pulled away from the woman.  
"I'm fi-"

"Girl, do not lie to me, or you'll be the one dissected instead of that rat."

That was no idle threat. Reluctantly, Sapphire cleared her throat."

"Is...is there any experimental undead being made right now?"

The woman scowled. The girl gave her a pleading look.

"Just tell me. Then I'll answer your question."

Sapphire's heart pounded. It took a couple of minutes for Nicci to answer.

"Yes...Yes there is. The Master is trying to make a new kind of undead. It's been going very badly. The last couple, I think, were cut up for body parts to be sent to the Fleshwerks. They get irritable, have outburst of uncontrollable rage, panic, and soon they start showing signs of insanity."

The girl moaned, and leaned against the wall. She slid to the floor, and buried her face in her hands.

Nicci tilted her head.

"Relax...What is the matter with you?"

The girl lifted her head, and forced out a smile.

"Nothing. Don't worry."

Abruptly, the girl stood up.

"I...I have to go!"

Nicci held a hand out to restrain her, but Sapphire was quick. She ran like a frightened animal.

"Sapphire! Come back!"

The girl found the darkest corner of the Citadel that she could find, and hid there. The girl imagined herself stuck in a cell, rocking back in forth, driven insane. It took all of her willpower to not cry again.

Sapphire closed her eyes. Wracking her mind for anything to calm her down. Anything that would convince her that her father was doing something right. Nothing but the doctrines of zealous cultists told her to trust him. It did not help.

Her father never let her do anything. He told her once that her mother was killed by paladins, but when Sapphire inquired further, Arthas had snarled to her that it was none of her concern. When Sapphire was rebellious at the age of thirteen, she used to go down into the dungeons, and ask prisoners questions.

Her father had been furious with her, and forced the girl to watch the torture and inevitable deaths of those she had asked. And now he was doing the same to her.

The girl had never even left Icecrown. In fact, she'd never been farther than Corp'rethar.

Sapphire looked up, and an idea came to her. She saw a female orc deathknight, walking by. Quickly, Sapphire ran over to her.

"Excuse me, but where are the bodies to be resurrected stored?"

The female orc glared at the girl suspiciously. She just smiled, and showed the deathknight her collar.

"I'm the Lich King's daughter," Sapphire whispered, a threat veiled in her sweet voice.

The orc deathknight told her reluctantly.

* * *

Sightless, empty eyes stared at Sapphire. Even in the cold of Icecrown, the bodies smelled. The girl grimaced, and began looting the bodies.

Every time she found a bag of gold or silver on a body, she took it. A new knife, a cloak, what looked like mage's robes, a bow, and a belt with pouches on it. She was about to leave, when a shine caught her to look back. Faint light came from the neck the body of an elf. Sapphire went over to it, curious.

It was a necklace, with a shining pendant hanging on the golden chain. The girl took it, and slipped it off the elf's neck. She smiled. The light obstructed what the shape of the pendant was, but it looked beautiful.

She almost put it around her own neck, but she remembered her collar. The girl compromised by putting it into one of the pouches on her new belt.

Whipping the cloak around her shoulders, Sapphire walked off.

A frost wyrm snarled at Sapphire. She winced, cowering. Quickly, the girl held up a large, pale yellow fang.

The undead dragon snorted, and moved aside. The girl walked past it, into the Frostwing Halls. Frost wyrms watched her hungrily. Some moved toward her, but none attacked her. Normally, she came in the home of the dragons with Ethan, but that wasn't possible now.

"Glacier!"

A small frost wyrm, a young adult, came stalking toward her. She nudged the human girl.

"Hello, Glacier. Good, that Ethan didn't take you with him to fight. I need a ride...To somewhere with normal humans. I think there is a place in the Borean Tundra that has some..."

The frost wyrm tilted her head at the girl. Then growled, a sepulchral noise. The girl recoiled, and waited for the frost wyrm to rip her in half. But the frost wyrm sat down, and folded her wings. She stared at the human girl for a while. Sapphire finally decided that Glacier was not going to eat her.

But she didn't look happy. Sapphire took a guess.

"You...You want to know why we are going there?"

The frost wyrm growled, but it was not as aggressive.

"I'm going to spy on the mortals that dare oppose the might of the Scourge."

Glacier seemed satisfied. Sapphire found her saddle, and put it on her as Ethan had shown her once. She led her to the opening in the Citadel. The frost wyrm shook like a dog, and nuzzled Sapphire again. The girl tried to get up on the saddle, but fell to the ground.

"Ow!"

Glacier watched her indifferently. Finally, after Sapphire tried again and failed, the frost wyrm laid down. The girl scrambled up the saddle. She perched uncomfortably on it.

The frost wyrm gripped the edge. Below, the spiked walls of Icecrown waited for Sapphire to make a single mistake, and she would be impaled upon them. Wind buffeted the two, but Glacier paid no mind to it. Cold did not effect her at all. She looked down, and spread her tattered wings. Sapphire gripped the frost wyrm's saddle.

When the frost wyrm jumped into the nothingness of the sky, pain erupted from Sapphire's neck. She cried out, and clutched the saddle before she fell off. Glacier didn't notice, quickly descending from the high altitudes of the mountains. If Sapphire guessed correctly, they were approaching Dragon Blight.

A roar from above cut off anything else Sapphire thought up, and the pain increased from the collar.


	7. Chapter 7

Sapphire barely called out to Glacier before another frost wyrm, several times bigger than Glacier, dove toward them. Its claws were outstretched, and its maw wide open in a roar.

Glacier roared in reply, and tried to evade her larger cousin. She whipped to the left. The girl hung onto the frost wyrm with a desperate grip. Her hand slipped, and before she could regain her grip, the larger frost wyrm attacked.

He collided with Glacier, throwing Sapphire off. Wind rushed, and she hit a bank of snow. Her breath whooshed from her lungs, and she rolled down the snow head over heels. Icy powder clung to Sapphire's cloak. Little flakes stuck into her hair. Quickly, Sapphire got to her feet, and look up above.

Glacier shrieked as the larger frost wyrm grabbed her. He started flying back north, toward Icecrown, with Glacier struggling. The girl watched sadly. She was stuck, alone and without a mount in the cold landscape of Dragonblight.

Wrapping her cloak tightly around her body, Sapphire walked to what she assumed was southeast. Her feet crunched in the snow.

Nothing attacked her. No paladins or priests jumped out at her, much to her relief. Dragonblight was not what she expected. Thousands of dragons, swarming like insects. That was what she thought to see, but that was not true. The landscape was completely white. Mountains thrust up in the distance. A tower was to her left, exposed in the flat snowy landscape. She remembered seeing a drawing of a tower on a map. Where she was, it was a wide expanse of virgin snow. Her tracks were completely exposed, but she felt no concern toward it.

Sapphire tripped, receiving a face full of snow. She yelped, and looked to her feet.

A piece of pale bone jutted out of the snow, her foot on top of it. The girl sat up, and scraped away the powdery snow. It looked like a claw.

Shuddering, Sapphire got up and continued on.

At first, Sapphire did not know what to do about the forest up ahead. The grayish wood sticking out of the ground confused her. It had smaller sticks coming out of the major one. They made a kind of web high above the girl's head. She hesitantly touched the main wood. It gave no indication of why it was there.

Disturbed, the girl continued through the area, which was full of the wood. There were so many of them, Sapphire decided to call the area the woods. It had a nice ring to it.

As she walked, the girl tried to remember her father's map. She always loved looking at the map as a child.

The Borean Tundra was the most southeastern of the regions of Northrend. It was a peninsula, and was largely barren. That was all she knew. The maps do not tell her what creatures lived there, or the people that live there.

A growl made Sapphire jump in fright. She whipped around, and fumbled with her bow. She dropped it, and panicked, the girl snatched it back up. Then, she took a saronite tipped arrow from her quiver.

A large animal stalked toward her. It was diseased, with scabbed over skin, and oozing pustules on its patchy fur hide. Its ribs showed beneath the skin. Sapphire aimed the arrow at it, backing away. The animal was the size of a horse. It had a muzzle with fangs, big clawed paws, and thick white fur. The girl had white fur lining some of her

clothes.

It snarled, and shambled to her. The animal was slow, due to its disease. Even Sapphire, with her clumsy shot, hit the animal with the arrow. Two more arrows, and it was dead. The girl didn't even bother to retrieve the arrows.

Now, she walked through the woods with her bow out.

The woods darkened as night fell. Strange noises sang in the darkness. Sapphire went around in circles, eyes flicking from side to side. Only after a howl rang, and several more followed that the girl remembered the necklace.

She took it out of her pocket.

It's glow instantly comforted her. The light illuminated around the girl. Wrapping the necklace around her wrist, the girl found one of the large wood poles. Laboriously, Sapphire climbed up the wood, and found a sturdy place to sit on the web of smaller poles. She looked down to the snowy ground below.

The spell on her clothing waned, forcing the girl to refresh it. Hunger gnawed at her. With no food with her, Sapphire suffered through it. She sat, perched over the ground, in a tree. Something she had never heard of. Clouds moved out of the sky. Flickering spots of light spread over the sky. The girl blinked, and stared at the pinpricks in the sky. Her eyes drooped. Cradled in the nest of the tree, the girl soon fell asleep. The glowing pendant hung dangling from her wrist. Once, she moved and the pendant fell to the ground.

Boots crunched down hard in the snow. A cloak trailed along. Sapphire was oblivious to the figure underneath her. She was sound asleep.

The necklace lay forlorn on the ground. A gloved hand picked it up.

The girl didn't hear the wood creak as the figure climbed up. Gently, the necklace was placed around her neck. The collar that was already there lit up angrily, but the brighter necklace killed off the unholy glow from the metal ring.

The figure jumped down. Green, glowing eyes watched. A growl ripped from the animal's throat. A sharp hiss from its master made the animal silent and the figure strode off. The green eyed creature followed, padding along on all fours.

Sapphire woke when the sky thunder rumbled overhead. Flakes of snow fell on her face. Yawning, she stretched and heard another peal of thunder. She quickly scrambled down the wood thing, and set off south east. Wings thudded overhead, and a blue dragon flew overhead. With a yelp, the girl flung herself into a tangle of more wood, smaller little snarls of it. She waited until there were no more wing beats.

The girl almost felt like praying to the Darkness for help, but it would no doubt send legions of undead upon her. It was going to be a miserable, frightening trip to the human settlement, Valiance Keep.


End file.
